Butterfly effect: When a remote event, like a butterfly flapping its wings, over time has huge consequences elsewhere.

Who knew when Mike (Iron Butterfly) Keenan blew up the roster in 1998 he'd be laying the foundation for much of the Canucks' success today?

When Keenan traded Trevor Linden to the New York Islanders a decade ago he set in motion an indirect process that saw the return of Linden, the drafting of the Sedins and the acquisition of Roberto Luongo.

Coles Notes version: Bryan McCabe became Daniel Sedin and allowed him to keep playing with Henrik (or vice-versa); Todd Bertuzzi became Roberto Luongo.

"Yeah, it's sort of connected, in a roundabout way," Linden said on Monday, having not really given it much thought until asked about the several degrees of separation outlined in the accompanying box. "But you can look around the league and it's all connected."

He's right.

The most nondescript trade -- a swap of sixth-rounders, say -- can unearth a gem such as Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall in '99).

The Canucks themselves, as Linden pointed out, got Alex Edler by trading for a third-round pick in '04 and picked up Kevin Bieksa in the fifth round in '01.

Even in the Linden trade, a third-rounder was thrown in by the Isles -- it turned into Jarkko Ruutu.

Regardless of his own bit part in the acquisition of Luongo and the Sedins, Linden still shakes his head at what GM Brian Burke, at the '99 draft, and successor Dave Nonis, in the summer of '06, pulled off.

"Getting Louie from Florida, I was super-surprised," Linden said. "The fact Dave was able to acquire an MVP candidate was amazing. There aren't a lot of those out there. Obviously, that's an enormous addition.

"And Brian ... to this day it's amazing he was able to arrange things so he could get Daniel and Henrik. I think only Brian could have figured that out."

The veteran remembers thinking at the time that it was a shame but there was no way the twins could wind up on the same team.

"I mean, what team has the second and third overall pick? Can you imagine them on different teams? I can't. I couldn't imagine how they'd wind up on the same team, either."

Neither could the Sedins.

They'd arrived in Boston three days before the '99 draft expecting to be claimed by different teams, go back to MoDo for a couple of seasons, then get together again over midnight-sun barbeques between NHL seasons.

"We didn't even think about being drafted together," Daniel said.

A couple of 18-year-olds from across the Atlantic, they had no idea of the history behind the McCabe-for-No. 2 machinations, nor how McCabe had become a Canuck in the first place through Linden being traded away.

All they knew was Canucks Euro scout Thomas Gradin told them five minutes before the '99 draft they'd remain a duo, leaving the idea of what their careers would look like had they been separated a parlour game for the what-if crowd.

"I don't know what would have happened," Daniel said. "It's fun to think about it, but we're lucky it never happened."

LONG AND SHORT OF IT

Here's a step-by-step guide to how the Islanders helped the Canucks get to where they are today (with a nod to Mike Keenan, Brian Burke and Dave Nonis):

That's how Keenan's 10-year-old Linden trade brought Luongo and both Sedins -- and Linden again -- into the fold.

And now who knows what we get for Luongo as it seems the other teams are a bit reluctant to give up anything of value, I'd be a bit shocked to get a quality prospect plus roster players (for the cap), unless we keep both RL/CS for this shortened season, and they both play lights out!

And of course a new CBA in place will help the other GM's decide on whats fair.

I was one of the very few at the other cc who liked that trade right when it happened. That was before I knew Bertuzzi was going to be more than a 20- 25 goal scorer and that the pick would turn out to be a useful pest in Ruutu. I felt McCabe would be a top pairing D-man who played with an edge and that Linden was very overrated. I can remember some fans pissing and moaning that we didn't get enough for T Linden. Mike Keenan should have gone to jail for statuatory rape.

That was the single best trade in Canucks history. Even better than the heist of Naslund for Stojanov.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Mike Keenan doesn't get near enough love for his part in turning this franchise around some 14 + years ago.

Eh. Keenan's tenure might have been the "rock bottom" that this club needed to turn it around. His time here was crap for the team, but who knows maybe Naslund wasn't lying through his teeth when he claimed that Mess was a great mentor who taught him leadership.

I hated the original Linden trade in my gut, but I still remember being flabbergasted at the great return. Always felt bad for Trev dealing with overexpectations from the teams he was traded to. When Linden was traded back it was immediately obvious how much worth Linden gave to the Canucks franchise outside of his playing days here.

Fun alternate universe speculation: what if Iginla was sold and eventually traded back at near contemporaneous points as Linden's career. Granted, Iggy's production never dropped off life Trev and was always a better points player.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:That was the single best trade in Canucks history. Even better than the heist of Naslund for Stojanov.

Close but no cigar. A very close-to-washed-up/mentally fragile Bertuzzi for Luongo (best goalie in Canucks history) is best Canucks trade of all time. This one hasn't even played itself out yet and lo and behold, Keenan was involved yet again.

"Late in the 1990–91 season, the St. Louis Blues were in first place overall and GM Ron Caron was looking to improve the team's defence for the playoffs. On March 5, 1991, at the trade deadline, Caron traded four players and 1992 fifth-round pick (Brian Loney) to Vancouver for Butcher and Dan Quinn, a small but skilled centre. Butcher was the key player for the Blues, with Quinn added due to the Canucks hard negotiating. The Blues traded away Geoff Courtnall, Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning – who as a group invigorated the Canucks for a number of years and eventually helped their new team advance to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final."

You're probably right SC. The trade with St Louis brought Vancouver basically three top 6 forwards and a tough 5/6 D-man for a useless piece of shit in Dan Quinn and a solid #3/4 hard nosed guy in Garth Butcher.

The following year this team really took off with those additions and obviously the signing of Pavel Bure was huge . The 91-95 era of the Vancouver Canucks was easily my favorite Canucks team and group of players.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:You're probably right SC. The trade with St Louis brought Vancouver basically three top 6 forwards and a tough 5/6 D-man for a useless piece of shit in Dan Quinn and a solid #3/4 hard nosed guy in Garth Butcher.

The following year this team really took off with those additions and obviously the signing of Pavel Bure was huge . The 91-95 era of the Vancouver Canucks was easily my favorite Canucks team and group of players.

That trade, along with acquiring Diduck and Murzyn, transformed them from one of the smallest teams to one of the biggest teams in the league almost overnight, and changed the way they were viewed around the NHL. There have been better trades (Naslund for Stojanov), but no trade had a bigger impact in the standings than that trade.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:I was one of the very few at the other cc who liked that trade right when it happened. That was before I knew Bertuzzi was going to be more than a 20- 25 goal scorer and that the pick would turn out to be a useful pest in Ruutu. I felt McCabe would be a top pairing D-man who played with an edge and that Linden was very overrated. I can remember some fans pissing and moaning that we didn't get enough for T Linden. Mike Keenan should have gone to jail for statuatory rape.

That was the single best trade in Canucks history. Even better than the heist of Naslund for Stojanov.

I think a lot of us were still willing ourselves to believe that the team was closer to Cup to contention at the time because of '94, and to see the Captain go under the circumstances that it happened... I can see a lot of people being sour about it. In retrospect, though, it kind of needed to happen. The team was spinning its wheels and needed a tear-down to build it back up. Frankly, Trevor was never the same after that cheap, dirty knee by Amonte. His trade value was never better, but hindsight is 20/20.

What I find funny is how easily all that could have blown up in people's faces if Naslund had given up when he'd been scratched by Keenan, or if the Sedins had decided to head back to Sweden after their first couple of years in the league. Lotta what-ifs with every team, but I think there have been times when this team came perilously close to losing some of the very players that drove them to success.

"Late in the 1990–91 season, the St. Louis Blues were in first place overall and GM Ron Caron was looking to improve the team's defence for the playoffs. On March 5, 1991, at the trade deadline, Caron traded four players and 1992 fifth-round pick (Brian Loney) to Vancouver for Butcher and Dan Quinn, a small but skilled centre. Butcher was the key player for the Blues, with Quinn added due to the Canucks hard negotiating. The Blues traded away Geoff Courtnall, Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning – who as a group invigorated the Canucks for a number of years and eventually helped their new team advance to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final."

That's a pretty excellent trade!

S_C

Hell yeah that's a awesome trade at a perfect time for the Canucks.

Trying to remember that Bruins trade that kept on giving to their team for like 15-20 years, but can't google find it.

Odd trade in that Esposito had been among the top scorers in the league for 2 of his first 3 seasons in Chicago...? As a Bruin, Esposito became the first NHL player to top 100 points, and then scored 76 goals in 71-72 which stood as an NHL record until Gretzky broke it.

Aitken played three games for the Bruins (and a few hundred in the AHL) before hitting unrestricted free agency. Samsonov had a few good seasons and a few forgettable ones before being moved to Edmonton for Mary Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a 2nd round pick (Milan Lucic). McLaren played for the Bruins for seven seasons before moving him and a fourth round pick to San Jose for Jeff Hackett and Jeff Jillson.

The Bruins traded Jillson for Brad Boyes, let Hackett go to UFA after a season and a half, let Marty Reasoner walk at the end of the season in which they'd acquired him, traded Yan Stastny for a 5th round pick (Dennis Reul), and moved Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman.

Wideman was packaged with a 1st and a 3rd for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell. Reul is a UFA and is playing in Germany.

So basically if we never traded Cam Neely to the Bruins Nathan Horton wouldn't have been concussed admiring his pass and the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals never would have turned in the Bruins favour.